Description

The Goliath bird eating spider lives in the northern parts of South America in the rainforests. The spider’s leg span can get to 30cm across and weigh up 120 grams. They eat frogs, mice, small snakes, insects and some bats and rats.  Some times they will even eat small birds. The females can live as old as 15-25 years old and the males 3-6years old. When they are young, they ride on their mothers back until they grow old enough to look after themselves.  The colour of the spider varies from light brown to dark brown. The spider is a nocturnal creature, and they dig burrows or find abandoned burrows to live in.

Habitat

The Goliath bird eating spider lives in wet environments, such as swamps in northern South America. They live around the Amazon River. They live in burrows and hunt for food from their burrows. But the habitat for these creatures is slowly being destroyed over time by humans deforesting the Amazon.

Diet

The Goliath bird eating spider eats frogs, mice, small snakes, insects and some bats and rats, and some times they will eat small birds. They hunt their prey from their burrows; they lay several trip wires at the entrance of their burrow and wait for a mouse or some other small rodent to come along, then when the creature touches the wires, the spider runs out of his burrow and bites the prey. and wait for the prey to become still from the venom, then it drags it into its burrow to eats it.

The venom and its effect and how to treat it 

The venom of the Goliath bird eating spider contains neurotoxins that paralyse the prey. A Neurotoxin is a toxin that mainly affects the nerve cell or neurons in the brain. This spider’s venom also has haemolytic toxins that dissolve tissues of the prey, so that the spider can eat it. Goliath bird eating spiders don’t normally bite humans; they will only bite in self defence. The venom of these spiders does not affect humans but if they are bitten it just feels like a bee sting.